A Nigerian judge rolled on the floor, begged the Department of State Service (DSS) boss Mr. Lawan Daura when confronted with evidence that he got more than N500million bribe.

The judge refused to unlock the safe in his house for DSS operatives to have access to its contents, a source told The Nation newspaper.

The DSS, which plans to take possession of the safe to uncover its contents, is said to have been questioning bank directors over links with some of the judges.

The source said: “Corruption in the Judiciary was based on our intelligence gathering and alerts from informants and petitions. It is not based on the perception of Nigerians. We have been on the trail of some of these judges in the last few months.

“For instance, we started probing one of the seven judges in detention (now released) since the Ramadan period of 2015. When we got sufficient intelligence on him, bordering on over N500million bribe, we invited him.

“The judge was given a copy of our report on him. By the time he read it halfway, he prostrated, held the legs of the security chief and begged for forgiveness. We captured the way he was reeling on the floor.

“We later sent a security brief on him to the National Judicial Council (NJC) with enough evidence. But he was cleared by the NJC as having committed no wrong. Since the NJC could not do the needful, we have decided to subject him to a judicial process”.